Physiological and molecular characterization of drought response in tomato.

Abstract

Water deficiency is one of the primary causes of crop yield reduction. Most crop plants, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), are sensitive to drought stress from seed germination to harvest. In order to better understand the tomato response when grown under drought conditions, field and greenhouse trials were combined with molecular analysis, and various genetic resources were explored. Among these, some wild species and some local ecotypes were chosen, where a wide genetic variability could be exploited. In particular, were identified the best wild species in terms of plantula response to water deficit and cultivated genotypes that better performed in terms of yield when grown under water deficit conditions. In addition, structural polymorphisms or expression variability in genes putatively involved in water deficit response were identified.